What have I done for Christ? What am I doing or should I do for Him?
We ought to ask ourselves this often, reminded Pope Francis on July 29, 2018, in a message of greetings to the President of the Christian Life Community Executive Council (Christian Life Community – CVX-CLC), Mauricio López Oropeza, and to all the participants in the XVII World Assembly held in Buenos Aires from July 22-31, 2018, on the theme «CLC, a gift for the Church and for the world,» for the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the association.
«To be guided by a Christian way of life, with a strong spiritual life and working for the Kingdom, means letting oneself be shaped by the love of Jesus,» the Pope told them.
One must ask oneself continuously, Francis said: «What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What ought I to do for Christ?»
For this reason, the Pope told them to pray and reflect together so that the Lord may grant them a greater depth in the living out of their charism, and in doing so, may they continue to be a gift for the Church and for the world.
«The recognition of the gift and the grace that the Lord has given you over these years shall lead you, firstly, into a humble act of thanksgiving, because Jesus has looked at you beyond your qualities and virtues. At the same time,» he continued, «this entails a call to responsibility, to leave yourselves behind and go forth to encounter others, to nourish them with the only bread capable of satisfying the human heart: the love of Christ.»
The Jesuit Pope recalled that at the center of their Ignatian spirituality is this desire to be contemplatives in action.
«Contemplation and action, the two dimensions together: because we can only enter the heart of God through the wounds of Christ, and we know that Christ is wounded in the hungry, the uneducated, the discarded, the old, the sick, the imprisoned, in all the vulnerable human flesh.»
The Holy Father thanked them for their dedication and love for the Church and our brethren, and encouraged them to continue making Christ present in your surroundings, «giving apostolic meaning to all your occupations.»
Pope Francis concluded, urging them to pray for him and praying that Jesus bless them and Mary take care of them.»
